In 1989, President Václav Havel decided that the khaki communist uniforms of the castle guards had to go. He turned to an old friend, Theodor Pistek, for help.

Pistek had been the costume designer for Milos Forman’s Amadeus and knew a thing or two about fabric. After careful consideration, he came up with the blue outfit seen here – an echo of army uniforms from the first Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938).